Barbara Higgins thinks volunteering is for the dogs, literally. She and her miniature poodle, Brenda Lee, are a volunteer team. Brenda Lee is registered therapy dog, and she and Barbara have been volunteering together for over three years. The two of them volunteer at hospitals, nursing homes, and libraries, which provide Barbara’s favorite volunteer experiences. She and Brenda Lee visit seven libraries a month, where children who have reading difficulties read to Brenda Lee. The reading program allows children an opportunity to read out loud without the fear of being corrected or judged.

Barbara rescued Brenda Lee after she was abandoned at pet groomer at ten weeks old. Her previous owner told the groomer that after two weeks with a puppy, she did not want her anymore. For Barbara, it was love at first sight. “She did her number that she does and that was it,” she says.

After attending several obedience classes, Barbara became convinced that Brenda Lee was born to be a therapy dog, a program that Barbara had been interested in for years. Since becoming a registered therapy dog team, Barbara has seen the demand for her and Brenda Lee’s services grow exponentially. “This became much larger than I ever expected it would. I expected to be able to do some visits and thought I would be spending a few hours a month doing it, not nearly what we’re doing. But it’s so enjoyable and it’s so us that here we are now,” Barbara says.

Barbara has a full-time job that in her words “pay the bills,” but she acknowledges that volunteering has become a second job for her. Barbara estimates that she and Brenda Lee spend approximately 40 hours a month volunteering. The area that they cover encompasses most of Northern West Virginia.

However, Barbara finds that the rewards more than make up for the time that she spends. She has witnessed children who were afraid to read transformed into confident readers, which, according to Barbara, has helped translate into confidence in other aspects of their lives. She has also witnessed the impact that Brenda Lee has on adults.

During one of their first trips as a therapy dog team, Barbara and Brenda Lee visited a rehabilitation facility, where they visited with a woman who has recently had a stroke. After Brenda Lee was placed on the woman’s lap, the woman began to laugh, and the woman’s daughter tearfully told Barbara that that was the first emotion her mother had shown since her stroke. Barbara sees this an example of the way that therapy dogs can get through to people when other people cannot.

However for Barbara the most important part of her volunteer service is the time that she gets to spend with Brenda Lee. “We work as a team, so pretty much it’s have dog, will travel. I gain a bond with her,” she says.